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The leaves are growing on the trees and the sun is sitting higher in the sky so we should no longer overheat. It did reach 22 deg one sunny day recently but very comfortable.

We did also have the stove on last week for one evening because it was quite chilly, but a couple of hours later and the house was lovely and warm!!!

We invested in an energy monitor a couple of months ago. A transmitter fits around the cable into your electric meter and sends power usage information back to the display box inside. This displays current usage, cost, daily & monthly usage as well as having the facility to link to the PC for more detailed analysis. Where this really pays off is to instantly see if anything has been left on such as bathroom lights (which are currently higher wattage bulbs) or the underfloor cables in the bathrooms. It also means you can keep a tab on what your next bill might be like. Our first bills were for €208 & €275 for two months (a high amount but that included running underfloor all day) and the next bill is likely to be around €150 for two months.  This is pretty good considering this includes all our water heating, cooking (we cook alot!), washing (washing machine on every night) as well as lighting and any space heating via the underfloor cables in bathrooms.

We also have a tumble dryer but have not used it as the clothes dry perfectly in the utility room without it. This is the advantage of a heat recovery system. The damp air is constantly being drawn away from the room.

Sorry not been posting recently, but we have been a bit busy and we do not yet have a phone line in the house. Tomorrow that will change hopefully. Eircom expected to put line in (just as they go into examinership!!).

The weather here has been wonderful, up to 19 degrees with full sunshine for the past few days. This has led to the solar panels working well and getting a full tank of hot water (over 60 deg C for the full 400 litres). Immersion has been turned off now and the energy usage of the house has dropped. We have an energy monitor attached to the live feed into the meter. The base load of the house seems to be around 100W which includes for the heat recovery system as well as the fridge freezer and any appliances we have forgotten to turn off! The main users of energy are now the appliances for cooking & washing / dishwasher.

The sunshine has also heated the house up considerably, with no shading from the trees (no leaves yet) and the lower position of the sun, this has increased the solar gain. The temperature gets up to 24 deg inside. Opening the door or closing blinds / curtains helps and the feel of the house is of a hot summer day. As the leaves on the trees grow and the higher angle of the sun reflects more heat away from the glazing this potential overheating should abate. No complaints though, it is Ireland not the South of Spain!

Will fill in the gaps as we go along.

Well we are so close now!

The lads from Flaherty & Goaley are finished now, they completed the woodwork internally and have completed the canopy / entrance ramp outside the front door. They also installed worktop , sinks & cabinets in the utility room. The quality of workmanship has been excellent and we would not hesitate in recommending them. They are off to Sweden to carry out more work for Lars so good luck to them all.

Denise has carried on with the painting in amongst the other workers and she is getting close to completion, next week hopefully!

The kitchen didn’t go in this week as we hoped, another job overran and the van broke down on Friday so no kitchen yet. We collected the wooden worktops from the UK this week together with stored appliances and the remaining appliances were delivered on Thursday so we are ready to go!

The plumber didn’t turn up either, probably hoping to get a good run next week.

The ESB did arrive to connect the pole up to the grid and put in a connection to the meter box. We just await completion by the electrician before the final connection is made. Collected the light fittings this weekend in preparation!

Next week will be busy – kitchen , painting, electrician & plumber all on site Monday together with Peter & John for final bits and pieces.

Getting towards the end of the project now!

The stairs have been completed, most of the window linings, architrave, skirting & coving have been installed. The bathroom, en-suite & WC have been completely tiled, the utility room just needs the area around the floor trap tiling and then it is complete.

The major news this week is the scaffolding has come down! It has made the house look almost naked! It has also made the house a lot lighter inside and has also increased the size of the garden.

After the scaffolding came down the ESB could get in and install the electricity pole.The electricity connection should be completed next week ready for the electrical 2nd fix. The removal of the scaffolding has also allowed Peter & John to get on with the canopy over the front door.

Finally the painting continues, Denise the painter has been filling all the little dents and marks left by the other lads on site ready for repainting.

Some further milestones this week.

The stove has been fitted! It is a Jydepejsen Zeus model supplied by Lars (www.scanhome.ie) and looks amazing. Can’t wait to get it fired up!

Jydepejsen Stove

We also now have a staircase!! A major development which makes life so much easier getting up & down.

The Stairs!

Denise has progressed with the painting, several upstairs bedrooms completed and most of the rest of the house has now been undercoated.

Karl the tiler started on Thursday and the bathroom is progressing well.

John & Peter completed the roof and they and the rest of the lads have been fitting internal doors, architraves, skirting boards & coving. The flooring has been completed.

Next week the window & door linings will be started and hopefully the scaffolding will come down!

In preparation for this we have painted the external timber, eaves and facia boards with silver pigmented linseed oil. We had painted it previously but felt it needed more silver pigment to match the window frames.

It gets hard to remember what happened in a week when you are writing the post several days later. Must remember to be more prompt!

Flooring going in downstairs, it makes such a difference and it also marks the hiding of the foundation slab we first saw back in August. It is laid as a floating floor, both upstairs and downstairs on the concrete. A plastic vapour barrier is laid down then a foam layer to give a slight cushioning, a bit of flexibility and insulation before the floor planks are laid on top, glued together but not fixed to the floor. This allows the floor to move with changes in temperature and humidity without buckling or creaking.

Flooring in the dining/living room

Painting has started! Even the undercoat  / sealer gives a finished look. Downstairs the last of the plasterboard filling and sanding has been completed so all walls are prepared for painting. Our painter Denise is having to work around the carpenters and the inherent dust so top marks for getting a great finish.

The kitchen - flooring in and ready for painting

Arrived back to see the progress whilst we were away.

The stove flue has been installed, just the roofing tiles to be completed. The facia boards on the road end of the house have been installed and the roof finished at that end with the vent for the soil pipe installed.

The attic has been filled with insulation.

All ductwork now boxed in and the bathroom now has dividing wall between bath & shower erected.

Flooring has been fitted upstairs, it really feels close to the end now!

Window linings have been sanded and preparation of the bathroom floors has started

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All upstairs walls ready for painting, downstairs walls filled but need sanding.

A bit late posting for week 7. We had a break , great to see all of you and sorry we missed those we didn’t.

Plasterboarding finished downstairs and the plasterers have arrived to tape & fill the joints ready for painting. This is a great way of preparing the walls as it gives a perfectly smooth finish without having to skim the whole wall. It’s less messy, quicker and avoids a wet trade in the house.

John & Peter have wheeled out the insulation blower machine to fill the attic with 2 tonnes of loose cellulose insulation (chopped newspaper, treated for fireproofing & rodent resistance).

We need new titles, we think they are becoming predictable!!

Week 6 was a quiet week with John & Peter back in Galway for a couple of days though 2 other lads were still working.

The week finished with all the upstairs rooms & the landing completely insulated and plasterboarded. All the spare plasterboards & insulation were moved downstairs creating loads of space. All that remains is the pile of wooden flooring in bedroom 2.

The ductwork in the bathroom is still exposed so that will need boxing in and the soil vent pipe in the master bedroom need installing & boxing in.

Downstairs the utility room ceiling has been boarded, the study ceiling insulated and all the rest of the walls downstairs are completely insulated.

The other major news was that the solar panels were installed on the roof. Finally a visual indicator of the green eco credentials of this house. We have 40 tubes of the evacuated tube type on the south facing roof.

Panic over!

The plastering, although washed away in areas was patched up on Monday and the gable ends had the finishing coat applied. They looked great.

On Tuesday the finishing coat was applied to the North & South walls completing the job. It looks lovely, crisp, white, clean and even. A very polished finish.

The full benefit won’t be seen until the scaffolding is taken down.

Peter & John weren’t on site this week, they were finishing off another job in Galway.

Next week hopefully full steam ahead again.

We also received results from the blower door test.